ByPeter Rainer, Film criticApril 30, 2010

Why, oh why, are we watching Michael Caine in a role tailor-made for Charles Bronson? As the titular character in “Harry Brown,” he’s playing an ex-marine living in a crummy London neighborhood infested with drug-dealing toughs. When an old friend of his is killed by these slime, he goes vigilante.

Caine has often made bad movies in the past – “Jaws: The Revenge” wasn’t exactly “Citizen Kane” – but he’s become choosier over the years. According to interviews, “Harry Brown,” because it was filmed in the neighborhood he grew up in, actually has a special meaning for him. But vigilante rage is a loaded subject and demands much more than the drooly, splattering treatment it gets here.